Millions of Americans woke up to a devastating Christmas Eve as people witnessed destructive winds, heavy snowfall and power outages across the country.

In the Buffalo area of ​​New York, high winds and heavy snowfall kept visibility near zero Friday through Saturday, with wind gusts up to 65 miles per hour and temperatures that felt well below zero.

The Arctic blast is expected to bring about the coldest Christmas Eve on record in several cities from Pennsylvania to Florida.

According to Reuters, the Florida and Georgia capitals — Tallahassee and Atlanta — should also record their coldest daily highs on Christmas Eve.

Washington, DC was to experience its frostiest December 24th since 1906.

Also read: Prepare for weather-related power outages in winter with tips from Generac

At least 15 people were killed by the severe cyclone in four states. Additionally, three other weather-related deaths have been confirmed in Kentucky — two from car accidents and one from a homeless person.

From the Canadian to the Mexican border and from coast to coast, a total of about 240 million people were under winter weather warnings and advice of some sort, Reuters reports.

Up to 1.5 million US homes and businesses were left without power, according to tracking site Poweroutage.us.

More than 5,700 US flights were canceled on Friday, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.

Bitter cold and strong winds stretched through the Deep South to the US-Mexico border.

Photo: Ron Frazier on flick